Perhaps not quite so hard on the heels of my last review of a RoC figure as I would have liked, nonetheless I'm here by popular demand to take a look at the RoC G.I. Joe "Pit Commando" and see how he measures up to the high standards set by previous entries in the movie line.

First things first. This is basically 25th Dusty minus the face-paint and in differently-coloured cammies.

He's supposed to be wearing the movie "G.I. Joe" camouflage BDUs, of course, but the camo patterning is missing the small splotches of "freckles" that the 1/1 scale items have, making it look more like he's wearing an inexplicably blue variation of the Swedish M-90 uniform.

Articulation isn't bad, and the plastic skirt of his tunic doesn't get in the way much, but he's nowhere near as adept at wielding weapons as the superlative Reactive Impact Armour Duke.

But now with the base figure seen to, let's take a look at what I suspect is the real reason everyone's going to want this guy: His weapons and equipment.

Throughout the years, it's generally been a given that each G.I. Joe action figure would come packing a small arsenal, but the Pit Commando takes this ethos to another level entirely with what must surely be the most extensive amount of kit ever included with a single 1/18th scale G.I. Joe.

In total, the Pit Commando is armed with a very “tacticool” (but oddly rubbery) G36C with Picatinny rails, forward stick handle, Aimpoint optic sight, tac light and double magazines, a miniaturized Jackhammer shotgun, an MP7 with the forward grip folded and an HK MK23 SOCOM pistol with laser aiming module and suppressor.

Aside from weaponry, other gear includes a black, open-fronted tactical vest with an incredible number of sculpted straps, pouches and even a holstered pistol on the lower left side of the front of the vest, an IOTV (Improved Outer Tactical Vest) with shoulder guards, groin plate and back flap, again beautifully detailed down to the strap below the back of the collar for dragging the wearer if wounded, a small ballistic shield embellished with the movie G.I. Joe eagle (or is it a hawk?) sigil, an enormous MOLLE-type rucksack, a PASGT-style helmet with swiveling face shield, a gas mask (same as 25th Shockwave’s), a boonie hat in movie Joe camo, which also features some very nice sculpted detailing of the stitching around the brim and a removable night vision monocular arrangement that fits over top of it, and perhaps most interestingly (for me, in any event), a glossy black Steel Brigade helmet!

I’ve always thought of the Steel Brigade as being the massed muscle that backed up the limited number of code-named G.I. Joe operatives, and the fact that the G.I. Joe movie army-builder is equipped with the iconic Steel Brigade almost seems like a neat little nod in that direction.

There are dozens of different combinations of headgear, body armour and weapons to be tried with this figure, but the one I like best is the tac vest, backpack, boonie hat and G36C, which to my mind makes for a very nice movie-universe Recoil, though I think I’ll need to find some sunglasses to complete the look.

Now, that concludes my analysis of the Pit Commando for today, but before I finish here for now I also want to take a look at two other figures I received recently: Delta 6 Duke and Rex “The Doctor” Lewis.

Both of them are incomplete, but while we recently got a look at the complete (albeit still uncarded) Doctor, Delta 6 Duke is a bit more mysterious with regards to accessories. One seller on eBay had him loose and mostly incomplete except for a pair of attachments on his arms for a while, and another recently offered him very much the same but with the addition of an FN F2000 rifle and helmet. Whether his other, as of yet unseen accessories turn out to be different than Delta 6 Ripcord’s is yet to be seen.

Like most of the RoC figures, he’s quite well-articulated, with a greater range of motion around the hips and torso join than the Reactive Armour version, and like that figure is nearly identical to the accompanying Ripcord with the exception of the head, which in this case is the “long” Channing Tatum headsculpt from the Reactive Armour figure (unpainted this time) that looks like John Forge from Halo Wars, as opposed to the “round” Channing Tatum headsculpt from the Desert Ambush figure that looks like Nico Bellic from Grand Theft Auto.

Still, there are some differences to be noted. The first is the paint. Inexplicably, the figure has even fewer paint apps than Delta 6 Ripcord, whose body was itself missing about half of the apps it should have had in comparison with the actual suit (virtually every surface ought to be painted silver-grey, with only the gaps being black). Oddly though, Duke’s neck is painted with a flesh-tone, despite the fact that the Accelerator suits seem to have a high collar, and his G.I. Joe sigil is gold where Ripcord’s is silver, in contrast with the Reactive Impact Armour figures, where Duke’s sigil is silver and Heavy Duty’s is gold.

As for the added gauntlets, they’re interesting. They look huge on Duke’s arms, but the actual props seem to be equally bulky, so no complaints there. They’re easily removed by popping the hands out of their sockets, but I can’t help but wonder why the Ripcord figure doesn’t come with them, given that what we’ve seen of the film so far seems to indicate that both Duke and Ripcord’s suits are equipped with these wrist-mounted miniguns and mini-missile launchers. Yet more mysteries…

Still, all things considered, I’m quite fond of this figure. It’s certainly, in my estimation, the best representation of a G.I. Joe in powered armour we’ve gotten thus far, and very cool powered armour at that.

As for the (good?) Doctor, he’s quite interesting in his own right, with a removable mask/neck-stock revealing a scarred, wrinkled face somewhere half-way between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Boris Karloff’s Mummy, and below the neck and his glossy black coat, being clad in what I can only imagine must be Tim Burton's long underwear; a full-body assemblage of straps, buckles and rings over a spindly frame that together might make an interesting base for an Edward Scissorhands or Psycho Mantis custom.

Articulation's pretty much the same as most other third-generation G.I. joes; neck, shoulders, mid-torso, elbows, wrists, hips, ankles, doube-jointed knees. However, he can’t kneel quite as effectively as some other figures due to his insanely long shins.

All in all, quite a creepy character. Is it an appropriate look for a disfigured, mad scientist interpretation of a newly-minted Cobra Commander (minus the Cobra-La backstory)? Arguably. Is it a cool action figure? Most definitely.

You like Castlevania, don’t you?

Last edited by CADPAT on Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

hum i was on the fence about the doctor but now i see a good few customs coming from most of his body. looks like i will be getting a few of him, as for the other 2 i like pit commandos weapons but thats about all, they dint give him no missilelauncher is also a plus. but duke still would have to join cobra in some kinda of custom just dont see my self likeing thes suits, thanks for a good review.

WOW, I'm impressed with the detail, insight and passion in your review of which impeccably edified all three figures! This in-depth review of the PIT Commando convinces me that he WILL be my favorite of the ROC era! That Doc just looks AWESOME! I'm glad Hasbro didn't cut any corners on his chest mold. Honestly, I wasn't going to purchase the Accelerator suit versions but your poses of Duke have SOLD me! This has to be the BEST unanimated toy commercial I've ever watched!

I bought the Pit commando on first sight last week. I was sold almost entirely by the Steel Brigade helmet. Now I just need to cobble together the bits to make one...

The actual PC figure, I think, is going to get a repainted Stalker head and become Manleh. Not only will it require minimal work, but I think it'll make for some nice variety on the shelf. The 25th line has used the Stalker body enough already.

Just a great figure all around. The sheer amount of weaponry and the various combinations of it make him an army builder or customizer's dream. It's almost like having accessory packs again!

I'm now up to four Pit Commandos, which is enough... for now. Great Review! I can't imagine how long it took to take all of those photos. The Pit Commando is probably my favorite RoC figure. Two things come to mind that would make it better:1) Mold the larger rifle in a plastic that isn't quite as flexible... it's as bad as some of the Power Team Elite weapons. Really. Mine is warped so badly it's junk.2) Give us alternate heads, or at least different paint jobs so that these guys don't look like a clone army when you build a squad.

These are minor complaints because you get so much stuff with this figure that you can throw a helmet on to disguise the fact that the heads are all the same and equip him with a different weapon since he has so many to choose from. This guy has so much equipment he just has to share, so your other Joes will be happy if you bring home a Pit Commando or four.